


Goodbye to the Circus

by PsychoLolita



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Circus, Angst, Circus, Dark, Death, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Romance, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fame, Fantasy, Fear, Hostage Situations, I swear it won't stay so grimy forever, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Love, Minor Violence, Past Sexual Abuse, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Possessive Behavior, Rape/Non-con Elements, References to Depression, Romance, Rough Sex, Running Away, Sex, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Unreliable Narrator, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-01 06:36:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15768600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLolita/pseuds/PsychoLolita
Summary: You're an enchanting circus performer with a rough past who enamors everyone who comes to see Cirque des Mondes. One day, Morty talks Rick into seeing a show, and the duo ends up getting more than they bargained for when they realize you need to be saved from the universe-famous Ringleader Rick Sanchez.





	1. Cirque des Mondes

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a light and airy fun story. But once I got to the end of this short little chapter I was like damn, why can’t I leave anything nice? I wanted to love my Ringmaster Rick, but I just had to give him a dark side. Maybe he'll change his ways. 
> 
> I know it's in the tags but just in case you didn't scan through them, this will have some non-con elements. This will not contain any incest, nor will it contain underage content in any abusive way.
> 
> This is obviously all kinds of AU stuff, so please, enjoy the ride for what it is! I’ve always loved the circus and I wanted to pour a little more of my heart into this one. There will be smut, there will be blood! But mostly this is a tale that I’ve been dying to tell for years, and I’m glad I finally found the characters to do it with. 
> 
> Just how I pictured it for the reader: think Christina Aguilera in the music video for her song Hurt for outfits and things like that. I intended this to be set in the present time but with vintage features such as those.
> 
> I’ll slip between narrating briefly for some parts, but, it’s definitely mostly in first person POV from the reader (starting next chapter) so hang in there with me! 
> 
> Okay well, enough of me. I hope you enjoy it! <3

“Hey Rick, look at this!” Morty said, looking at a few large pieces of coarse paper that laid across the table. They were part of a newspaper, something neither of them had seen in what felt like eons. 

“Jerry really is out of touch, huh?” Rick asked, lifting his brow as he swiped a piece of paper from the table, beginning to crumple it up. 

“Hey! Wait!” Morty cried, jumping up to grab the rumpled page, flattening it out again. 

“No, the- the circus is in town, Rick. We should go! Y’know, do something fun a-and safe. For once.”

Rick scoffed immediately, eying his grandson as though he had finally gone off of his rocker. 

“The circus? Really? What are you, five?”

“Ah, come on, it’d be fun. We could make memories or.. or something.”

“Memories,” Rick repeated, sounding as if he didn’t believe a thing he was hearing. 

“Please? We never do anything I wanna do, just this once it’d be nice to take a breather, see a show,” he suggested, his tone pleading but hopeful.

“O-okay, sheesh, let me get you some cheese with that whine.”

Morty looked down at the paper, pointing at a photo of a lion on top of a large platform. 

“Look at that, he’s- he’s even got a little bow tie.”

“Lame,” Rick said without looking, pulling out the portal gun that had gotten them in and out of so many situations before. 

“You wanna see a circus, I’ll show you a fuckin’ circus.”

Morty stood from the table, excitement glowing in his eyes as he anticipated Rick’s next move. 

“Okay!” He beamed, pushing the paper aside. “Promise no funny stuff? I really don’t feel like running today.”

“Yeah, yeah. Nothing  _ fun  _ or _ exciting.  _ Just a stupid show. But a real one, not a.. lions in bow ties, one,” he responded, muttering the last few words. 

Rick fired the gun into the air, hanging a round, green void in front of them. 

“Let’s roll, kid,” he said, stepping through the portal, the boy following closely behind. 

\---

On the other side, Morty became bewildered at what he saw. The entire surrounding area was covered in dark red, jet black and shimmering gold. Performers and animal like creatures walked the grounds, hurrying to get to their places before the show started. There were lifeforms of all kinds, some with what looked like children, some with their significant others, some completely alone, but all of them had the same look of wonder glazed over their expressions. Everything and everyone looked modern, magical even, yet an extremely vintage tenor encompassed it all. It was that very quality that made this circus the best in the galaxy, besides the extraterrestrial acts. 

“Wow, Rick, why didn’t you show me this place before?”

“Because I knew you were a loser, but I didn’t think you were a  _ fucking _ loser.”

Offended, Morty crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

“Don’t blame me for.. for liking things that a kid should like. This place is pretty cool. I think I’m gonna go look around, y’know, check out the scenery.”

Rick took out his flask, unscrewing the cap with an eye roll. 

“What -urrp- whatever. I’m gonna get some popcorn and sit down since you’re so in love with this place already,” he said, taking a drink and tucking it away again in his lab coat. 

Morty shook his head, turning away from Rick. He knew he’d have a decent enough time on his own anyway, even if Rick was the one who brought him here. He passed by what the circus deemed “freaky” enough for a freakshow, in awe at a strange alien that functioned without a head inside of a cage. A yellow animal with pink spots and no nose was next, followed by some kind of female who was all limb and no torso. He gulped at the thought, clutching onto his middle as he came to an opening in the tent. Wondering what kind of oddity would be next in such a wonderous venue, he approached it excitedly. 

“Yeah,” he heard, a familiar sounding grumble, then a quiet clattering of what sounded like glass bottles knocking into each other.

“Mmf,  _ fuck _ ,” he heard again.

His face twisted into that of confusion as he continued walking toward the noise, sliding next to the tents opening and peeking around it slowly. The voice sounded like Rick- but there was no way it could’ve been him, Morty thought. 

“ _ Y-you’re so good _ ,” he heard next, and his eyes landed on what he could clearly see was another version of Rick in a top hat and a deep burgundy uniform-esque ensemble, embellished with gold accents.  

His outfit resembled that of a ringmaster's, and he was overpowering what looked to be a young woman against a vanity that sat in the corner of the room. The warm glowing bulbs that lined around the mirror allowed him to see the look of disconnect with a hint of sorrow laced through her delicate features. She wore an extremely tight and short champagne colored satin dress, with a floor length mesh dressing gown to match. Her hair looked as though she’d just pulled it together, and he had been careless about it. Her lips, pulled into the faintest pout, were painted with a cherry red. 

One of her hands clutched onto a golden necklace she wore, the other she used to prop herself up with as her shoulder blades stuck to the mirror. Morty took notice again of the lack of emotion she exhibited, not even bothering to fight him off. He suddenly felt queasy as the other Rick gripped onto her hips with a vengeance, thrusting into her as if she were nothing more than a life-sized sex doll; he would know. 

She hummed catatonically as he leaned in, grunting louder. It was clear that this was a usual occurrence for her as perfume bottles rattled against each other and a tube of lipstick rolled onto the floor. Morty knew he should’ve looked away, but he wanted to help her more than words could ever describe. Finally, who he assumed to be the ringleader of the circus reached his climax, bucking his hips into her as her eyes drifted away from what was happening on top of her. The girls legs remained open as he stood up straight again, tucking himself back into his pants and zipping up his fly. She seemed to be off in another world in her mind as she closed her legs and sat up. There was a pain in Morty’s chest for her, and another wave of nausea washed over him as he watched the ringmaster leave a kiss on her cheek and adjust his hat. 

“You’ve always been my favorite pre-show stress reliever,” he said to her before disappearing behind another opening in the fabric that hung around them. 

He watched as she sighed, slid off of the vanity, and began to work at her tousled hair again, her (e/c) eyes glossed over in the mirror. Peeling himself away from the scene, he decided he’d seen enough. Quickly making his way back to the arena, he searched for his Rick in the crowd of various forms of life. When he set eyes on him in the front row, he made his way down the aisle and past the seats, plopping into the next chair with a tense demeanor. 

“W-what’s the matter with you?” Rick prodded. “I thought- you’re the one who wanted to be here.”

“I do. L-let’s just- let’s just watch the show, okay?” He griped in return, averting his eyes back to the center of the tent without giving him a second look. 

Rick studied him for just a moment before he popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth, shrugging cooly as his eyes followed suit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, so many languages in the entire universe and I still chose French for the name of the Circus. #sorrynotsorry
> 
> Anyway! I have a bunch of chapters lined up! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and thank you for reading! <3
> 
> [psychololitaxo.tumblr.com](http://www.psychololitaxo.tumblr.com)


	2. Diane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The italicized bits are flashbacks, though I'm sure you would've gotten the hint! Just wanted to separate it without saying "Hey! Here's a flashback!"  
> Anyways... Enjoy chapter two! <3

I didn’t realize running away and joining the circus was going to end up being such a daunting way to live. Growing up, it felt like a dream. I was lured in by the lights and the fame, traveling to different cities and countries. Those were your average run of the mill circuses. This one however, traveled beyond what anyone knew of space and time. We were often in different galaxies each day.

My parents never approved of a carny lifestyle when I’d mentioned it to them as a little girl, they said it’d only wear me out- but that was a risk I was willing to take. I didn’t come from anywhere special, and even if I had, nothing on earth compared to what drifted beyond the stars. Rick Sanchez, the ringleader, had promised me so much. I was so young- of course I believed it. And though he wasn’t entirely wrong, he wasn’t entirely honest, either. I was the only other human in the entire circus aside of him after a while. But we’d met when I was far younger; when I had finally gathered the courage to run away from home the night I heard the circus was in town...

 

_“What’s a pretty thing like you doing with- with tears in her eyes, huh?”_

_I sniffed, my eyes shifting up to meet his as I sat just outside of the ticket booth on an overturned bucket. I left home in such a rush, I hadn’t gotten the time to take money from my mother’s “secret” hiding place, and I realized that far too late._

_“I can’t stand my parents,” I croaked, and he chuckled softly._

_“I- I had the same problem. But now look at me,” he said, standing tall above me with his arms wide open, a golden cane in his hand that resembled something of a Willy Wonka necessity. “I run this show.”_

_“You do?” I asked, my voice lilting._

_He knelt down in front of me, pushing his hat up with the end of his cane._

_“I sure do. Y-you can be just like me one day, if you want to. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”_

_The smallest of smiles graced my rosy lips, and he winked at me with his own handsome grin, enamoring me completely._

_“There it is,” he said, his rugged voice almost turning to velvet._

_He stood up again, turning to the man behind the ticket booth and demanding a ticket. He pulled one from the counter and handed it to him with no question. I didn’t realize then that it was because everyone feared him as much as they admired him._

_“Come watch the show, sweetie. You- you won’t regret it.”_

_I gingerly took the ticket from his hand before he nodded once and walked off toward the tent, disappearing behind its grand magnificence._

_Crickets chirped and fireflies hung like Christmas lights in the air as I made my way down the beaten path that many before me had walked. I watched the show in awe and horror. I had never seen anything like the acts he had running inside. People who looked like aliens, animals who looked like creatures that had come from a nuclear disaster. Glittering gold and glamorous tapestries hung from every corner. It was as though I’d been asleep my whole life, and had finally woken up into a world that I could get lost in. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love; all as he ran the entire show without so much as a hiccup, eliciting emotions from me that I didn’t know a young girl could have. It almost felt as though he were doing it just for me._

_It wasn’t until I saw her, a graceful tightrope walker in a laced corset and gem studded tulle skirt topped with a vintage parasol, that I made my final decision; that I decided to nail my own coffin shut, as I eventually knew it to be. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, hardly looking real as she elegantly waved like a queen to the crowd, her blonde locks curled around her face. Everyone around me cheered for her, where I could only sit in enchantment._

_Her name was Diane._

_When the show ended, I didn’t want to leave. I waited until the crowd disbursed, and every last strange face had tucked itself away behind the makeshift doors of the tent. It was only me and the empty center of what only an hour ago had been full of life._

_“Did you enjoy my show?” I heard him ask from behind me._

_Startled and eager, I turned around so quickly, my hair whipped around my face. There was nothing I wanted more in that moment than to devote my life to what I assumed, was his._

_“Join the circus?” He asked once I'd gotten the nerve to lay on my request, a glint in his eye._

_“No one’s going to miss me back home,” I pleaded with him. “You’re my only hope at getting out of this dumb town.”_

_He mulled the idea over in his head, asking me what talents I possessed; which at the time, I had none. My naivety then didn’t allow me to see that it had been his plan to take me in the whole time._

_“I suppose- I guess we can train you to do something. What’s your name, sweetheart?”_

_My heart lit up right along with my face._

_“It’s (y/n),” I said, suddenly all kinds of proud._

_“Welcome to Cirque des Mondes.”_

 

I spent every day for the next several years in training. Everyone put me to work, doing the tasks they didn’t want to or decided they were suddenly above doing. The only one who was ever truly kind to me my entire time at the circus was Diane. She had told me I reminded her of herself when she was my age. She taught me everything she knew, from tightrope walking to remaining poise. She brought me up to be a lady, through and through. Much like a second mother to me, she told me lovely stories and cautioned me about the patrons that would come to the circus to “window shop.” The woman had a heart of gold, one that I only aspired to try to have myself.

As I was growing up, I became closer with Rick as well. He would compliment me and present me with gifts. If I did a particularly good job that week during training, he would have someone bring me my favorite flowers from a planet the circus often visited. He always treated me respectfully, with kindness. If I had only known then what that would turn into.

It wasn’t until I came of age that I realized he had been having everyone groom me to take her place on the main stage instead of join her. I didn’t even believe Diane knew it would be so sudden and so soon. I woke up one night to the two of them in the midst of an argument in another, larger, tent next to mine. She had been crying long before I had awakened and he showed no remorse for her despair.

 

_“I’m perfectly capable of walking that rope just as I had been when you first put me up to it!” She cried._

_“Y-you’re no spring chicken anymore, sweetie. The guests- they don’t come to see old news. They want someone younger. M-m-more vibrant.”_

_His tone was plainly unaffected, and there was a long pause before she spoke again._

_“You’re not in love with me anymore, are you, Rick?”_

_“What?”_

_“Answer me.”_

_Another long silence. I clutched at my blankets, feeling like a child listening to their parents fight as an anxious feeling settled in my chest._

_“It’s (y/n), isn’t it?” She asked quietly._

_It felt as though my lungs had been vacuum sealed, and I quietly inhaled as much air as I could once I realized I wasn’t breathing._ _He mumbled something I couldn’t hear, and the next thing I knew, she was walking into my tent. I closed my eyes in the darkness, feigning sleep._

_“(Y/n), honey, wake up for just a minute,” she said sweet as sugar. Her tone was genuine, and my heart was breaking for her as I opened my eyes._

_“Baby,” she started, clearly concealing the pain in her voice. “I want you to have this, okay? Don’t you ever forget it anywhere. It’s the best piece of me.”_

_She held her hand out to me as I sat up in bed._

_“Promise me you’ll treasure it forever.”_

_She grabbed my hand, placing her delicate fist in it and opening it. I felt a dainty chain fall across my palm before she squeezed my hand shut over the gift._

_“Promise me,” she said again, emotion catching in her throat._

_“I promise,” I whispered._

_“Diane, please,” I started again, wanting to tell her I’d heard everything; wanting to tell her I’d leave if it meant she could stay._

_But she gave me no time as she pushed my hair back and kissed my forehead, hugging me close to her petite frame before disappearing out of my tent._

_When I opened my hand, the gold necklace that I’d never seen her without before stared back at me. The pendant was a tiny Saturn, attached to five tinier diamond stars. One larger star sat on top of them and next to the planet. I clasped it around my neck, and held onto it, worry encasing my mind until I managed to drift back into a restless sleep._

The week after that we were all dressed in black. The show didn’t travel, the show didn’t go on. We simply stayed stagnant. The glowing light that carried the entire circus more than most of us realized had been cut out. Without Diane there, we were all a wreck. I had lost another mother, and in turn, lost what I thought to be a father figure, too. Sure, Rick was extremely attractive, there was no denying it. It was simply a line I was never intending to cross. In my eyes, he was Diane’s, and would always remain so, even without her. The respect he gave me was enough for me, and I had no one else to look up to anymore.

 

_I clutched onto the necklace she had given me, feeling the stars and planet with the pad of my thumb. I didn’t want to feel so hurt that she had left me like this. It was so selfish of me feel that way. A solitary tear slid down my cheek as I blamed myself for what had happened._

_Wasn’t it my fault?_

_“(Y/n),” I heard Rick call out from the dressing room hidden next to the empty arena._

_I picked myself up from the chair I sat in that faced what would’ve been the ring for today’s show, and made my way to the makeshift door. When I pushed past it, I noticed him seated at Diane’s vanity with a bottle of liquor in front of him, light reflecting off of the glass._

_“Yes?”_

_“Now that Diane is gone,” he said blandly, slurring his words a bit. “W-were gonna need a new tightrope walker.”_

_Though I had looked up to her all my life, I suddenly didn’t want to try to fill her shoes anymore._

_“Oh.. Rick, about that, I..”_

_“You’re gonna- you’ve been doing a great job up there. I- I’ve seen you practice. W-we all have,” he said, standing up and swinging the bottle around with him._

_“Thank you,” I said quietly._

_There was never a time I could recall before that Rick was such a drunken mess. He used alcohol to cope with the loss I assumed, as he stumbled over to me, taking the necklace I wore over his finger and staring at it. My body went rigid as I felt his touch on my chest._

_“You know, I got- I gave her that,” he said, letting it fall back against my flesh._

_“It’s lovely,” I assured._

_“Just- kinda like you,” he said, eyeing me._

_An uncomfortable feeling sat in my stomach as I drew a breath. I replayed their argument in my head every waking moment of the day, to the point of driving myself crazy, sometimes. I didn't want to think his feelings still stood after all of this._

_“Rick..” I started. “You’ve had too much to drink, and you’re very vulnerable, we all are…”_

_“Don’t- you have no idea,” he said, turning around to face the mirror. He leaned against the table and stared at himself before hanging his head._

_A wave of emotions washed over me as harsh and unrelenting as the open sea. I stepped behind him, carefully reaching out as though he might turn around and bite me. Once my fingertips made contact with the fabric of his shirt, I rested a hand on his shoulder._ _I’d never seen a man cry before. But he reminded me of his humanity as tears rolled down his cheeks like diamond droplets hanging from a crystal chandelier._ _I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly as she had done to me the last time I saw her. That was when I allowed myself to truly cry, too._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you're enjoying it so far! <3


	3. The Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read my Curiosity series, you know I was feeling under the weather! I'm all good now and the chapters shall return at normal pace :)

I picked the tube of lipstick off of the floor, reapplying the color after fixing my hair. I slid out of my dress and into my stage-outfit next, tidying up the area after. Cleaning up the vanity and fixing the knocked over bottles of perfume was just habit before shows since he’d taken such a lustful liking to me. I spritzed myself a few times with a sweet scent before slipping my ballet slippers onto my feet. Mostly, I tried to deny access to the sensation of crying that welled in my ribcage.

It was only a month after Diane’s passing that Rick started laying the charm thick on me. At first, it was hard to take. My loyalty to her told me to stay far, far away from him. In moments of weakness however, like when he would catch me sobbing to myself in my tent, he made the effort to comfort me. It gave me a sense of security that I longed for without anyone else around who truly cared for me. Still, it was hard for me to set aside that he’d played such a different role than a lover in my eyes. He cared for me in his own way, I thought. That was until what I decided to be his true colors began to run vividly through the muddied waters he’d created for himself when it came to dealings with me.

One night after a show, coping with the loss became too much for me. I missed Diane- I began to miss my real parents; wondered if they were alright. He noticed this and did the only thing he could. Feeling so cherished, I allowed myself the pleasure of his company the way he wanted it. My first time wasn’t exactly a bed of roses… But I felt the love I craved nonetheless. Being constantly on the go prior to our staying in one place didn’t lend me much of a chance at making any other connections, and everyone else at the circus just felt like family.

Not every time was I able to withstand what’d I’d allowed myself to do.

 

_“Where are you going?” he asked me, returning to my tent and catching me in the act of packing the only suitcase I’d ever owned._

_“Away from here, away from you!” I spat, tears in my eyes as I felt the wetness he’d just left behind still slick between my thighs._

_“W-what do you mean? Sweetheart, please,” he said, approaching me and grabbing my shoulders over the mesh dressing gown I wore. “Y-you can’t leave. They love you.”_

_“They can get fucked!” I fumed, ripping myself out of his grip and zipping up my suitcase._

_“(Y/n),” he said, gripping onto me even harder and dragging me across the room, pressing me against an armoire that held my clothing._

_“Ouch…” I breathed, looking into his eyes with a scowl of pain on my features. They seemed to grow darker by the moment as his grip grew tighter._

_“Y-you’re not going anywhere.”_

_The only thing I could do was swallow hard and nod as the scent of liquor that had never been there before his wife’s passing hit my nose. There was a hesitation between us as I tried to compose myself._

_“Yes sir…”_

_That was when I realized the fear he instilled in everyone. He was no longer the bewitching success I met all those years ago. He was closer to a monster. My heart ached in my chest as I wished Diane were there._

 

It wasn’t the first time I’d had enough. When it first started, I would constantly pack my bags just to unpack them again. It was a rare occasion that I would actually try to leave, and even rarer that he would catch me. The times _he_ didn’t catch me were the same times _someone else_ had, and convinced me to stick around. I wondered if he had eyes on me my entire life at the circus, whether they were his own or not.

Guilt always plagued me afterward, but there was no stopping his desires anymore. I didn’t deny him, but I didn’t accept him with open arms either. After all, I had nowhere else to go. After Diane’s passing, the circus stopped traveling, and I wasn’t allowed anywhere out of the inner grounds regardless of motive. If I needed anything, it was brought to me. Often times I felt like a caged bird. I could only watch the sun rise and fall from within the makeshift doors that the tent provided. Being so sheltered wasn’t my plan, but it quickly became my life. I lived to please others, and I lived to please him.

The lights dimmed outside of the dressing room and the drums began to roll. Rick called out his usual introduction and I watched from behind the scenes as I always did until it was time for my act.

“Go, go, go, go!” Hana, the costume designer, urged as she pushed me up some makeshift stairs, tying the back of my corset as tightly as she could behind me.

“Good luck!” She called out like she always did.

I gained footing at the end of the rope, positioning myself in my usual opening pose.

“Now I-I know you’ve all been waiting for our beautiful tightrope walker; a legend in and of herself, the ever enchanting (y/n)!” He called, the crowd roaring in my ears. Every time I heard it, I briefly reminisced on the first time I’d watched Diane with eyes the size of cherry pies.

The spotlight hit me like lightning, and I waved to my adoring audience feet beneath me and around me. My corset felt a little tighter than usual as I tried to bow, having to hold my breath as I did so. After a few moments of soaking up the love they so adamantly threw at me, I opened the crystal studded parasol that sat next to me and began my routine.

One foot in front of the other, business as usual. I smiled, waved, posed. Everything I’d done countless times before. As I made my way to the middle of the thin line I was walking, I suddenly began to feel dizzy. Despite my attempt at inhaling, I was unable to really catch my breath. My body began to sway, and I caught myself as I leaned to one side.

The crowd gasped, then cheered at my recovery. My next step must’ve been a doozy, because all I could hear was shrieking as I felt my body go limp, slipping off of the rope and falling from what seemed like stories downward.

**-x-x-x-**

Morty’s eyes widened as he watched the tightrope walker put on a show for everyone. She seemed so glamorous; her smile and body language so effortless despite what he’d just seen her go through. Suddenly feeling infatuated with her, his usual clammy hands and nervous fidgeting began as he watched her smile and work her figure. The black bejeweled corset and flared skirt she wore left almost nothing to the imagination as she gracefully opened her parasol with a light hand, and started to walk, causing his mouth to run slightly dry.

“Wow,” he voiced in awe, leaning forward in his seat to stare at her.

“O-oh, now you wanna enjoy the show,” Rick said, nudging him with a smirk. “I don’t blame you, look at that body.”

The image of his grandpa from another dimension carelessly pushing himself onto her flashed in his mind, and he felt sick all over again.

“Gee, Rick, y’know, that guy- the ringleader? I don’t think he treats these people very well.”

“He’s a businessman, Morty. Do you think he’s giving out gift cards to Shoney’s and patting them on the back? H-he’s got an empire to run here.”

“I can’t believe you’re defending him!” Morty snapped, causing Rick to reel back.

“Hey,” he started calmly, his eyes bouncing back and forth between the Rick in the center of the ring who stood in the dark as the entire crowds attention was on the girl on the rope. “You- you have no idea. You’re just making shit up in your head. Don’t do that, let go! Watch this shit! It’s fucking insane.”

Morty sighed, nodding his head. He didn’t want to tell Rick that he’d spied on the ringleader or he knew he’d never hear the end of it.

“Okay, yeah. I guess.”

“There you go,” Rick said, holding out his popcorn to Morty, who in turn took a piece.

The girl on the line began to falter, and the crowd gasped and then cheered. A smile lifted Morty’s lips as he pushed away the scene he witnessed.

“Look at her, Rick! You think that’s part of the show?”

“Probably, give the audience a little- a scare. It’s all calculated Morty, that’s what makes this circus the best in the universe. I’m a fucking genius.”

She slipped again, and the roar in the crowd was that of a scream this time as she went toppling over the rope.

“Rick! She’s- you have to have help her!”

“What? No way, this is great, I’m sure she’ll land in a cup of water or something,” Rick said, bringing a handful of popcorn back to his mouth.

“You idiot! There’s nothing to catch her!” Morty spewed, grabbing the portal gun hastily from his grandpa’s coat and jumping over the ledge that separated the ring from the audience, firing it underneath her at the very last second.

“W-w-what do you think you’re doing?!” Morty heard Rick’s voice in unison from two different angles. He stepped backward and looked between the two of them as the portal closed up around the girl.

“I-I.. I saved her life!”

The audience began to boo and hiss, throwing cups and popcorn buckets and anything they could find at Morty.

“Ow!” He cried as Rick’s popcorn bucket flew at his head. Morty turned to face him with a grimace.

“If you can’t beat em, join em, am I right?” He shrugged, a smug grin on his face.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please,” the ringleader called out over his microphone, his tone full of a phony concern. The crowd quieted down, hanging on the ringleaders every word.  

“We should be thanking this young man for saving our shows most prized possession. Cirque des Mondes couldn’t compete- wouldn’t be the same without her!”

Silence hung in the air before everyone burst into a joyous cheer. The ringleader turned around, the smug grin on his own expression a pure mirror of the one Rick wore. He spoke through gritted teeth directly to Morty, and Morty only.

“Find her, or I’ll gut you and your Rick like fish.”

Rick approached Morty, bowing at the crowd in front of him before flipping them all off and taking his gun back from him.

“Y-you can’t go with him,” the ringleader said, holding his hand out to keep Rick away.

“Hey, d-don’t fucking tell me what I can and can’t do,” Rick said, brushing his hand off of his chest.

“I don’t even know where she went! T-the only one who can find her is Rick,” Morty explained.

He huffed in response, calculating a plan within the confines of his mind before speaking again.

“Please, c-come with me,” the ringleader said, before introducing the final performance. It was an act in all the average circuses back on earth, but apparently, it still held its appeal.

When he walked off of the ring, Rick and Morty followed, unsure of what was going to happen next. As soon as they crossed the threshold into the room that Morty had just peeked in on, the ringmaster grabbed Rick by his collar and threw him onto the ground.

“Do you know how many people come to this show just to see her!” He asked.

“H-hey buddy, she- she would’ve been a fucking pancake if Morty didn’t do something,” he said, standing back to his feet and brushing himself off.

“You don’t know that,” he spat. “Now, who-who knows where she is!”

“Are you insane?” Morty cried. “Rick, we have to go find her, I have no clue what was on that thing, I just… I pushed a bunch of buttons.”

“Should’ve just let her fall,” Rick grumbled before looking down at his gun.

The ringleader brought his hands together in front of his lips and exhaled, pulling himself together.

“I apologize,” he started, and both Rick and Morty looked over at him.

“Jeeze Rick, I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of you say that before,” Morty said, drawing a chuckle from him.

“I didn’t- I didn’t mean to lose my temper, it’s just that-”

“She’s your favorite pre-show stress reliever?” Morty asked defensively, cocking a brow.

The ringleaders expression turned to stone as his eyes fell on Morty.

“What the fuck are you talking about Morty?” Rick chimed in before placing a hand on the ringmasters rigid shoulder. “Listen, he’ll do it. But this kid is useless without me. If you want her back, I-I gotta go.”

The ringmaster drew a breath, bringing himself out of the beginnings of a cloud of anger and psychosis.

“O-okay, fine,” he said, waving Rick off. “Just, bring her back.”

“You got it, bud. C’mon, Morty,” Rick said, grabbing him by the shoulder and pushing him back out of the tent. Once they were out of earshot and near the concessions again, Rick started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Morty asked, standing still.

“Oh, god, that guy was a fucking nut. We need to get outta here, Morty. This place has really gone downhill,” he said, picking a bundle of what looked like cotton candy off of a counter and tossing it behind him with a grimace.

“I thought we were going to find her!”

“Are you crazy? I’m not wasting time on that. I-I’m sure she’s fine, Morty.”

“But what if she isn’t? She seems so nice, she doesn’t deserve to be abandoned on some random planet!”

“Jesus Christ, Morty. Are you in love with her already? You- you don’t even know the bitch.”

“Don’t call her that!”

Rick’s eyes might’ve rolled right out of his head if he let them, and an audible groan left his throat.

“ _Fine_. But I’m not fucking doing this again just so you can play white knight to some god damned girl.”

A smile crossed Morty’s lips as he crossed his arms.

“I don’t wanna be a hero, you know? I just wanna help.”

“Yeah, yeah, boy wonder. Lets go,” he said, lifting his hand and pulling the trigger into a another world.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the love on this! I wasn't sure how it would be taken, so I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! <3


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